The company's powerful chairman at the time, former head of Deutsche Bank Josef Ackermann, resigned just days after Wauthier was found dead amid speculation that the two had fallen out over the group's accounts.

Ackermann said he had decided to quit because he had reasons to believe that Wauthier's family felt he should take a share of the responsibility, though he underlined that any allegations were unfounded.

Two independent probes meanwhile concluded that Wauthier, a French and British citizen who had served as CFO since 2011, had not been subjected to any "undue or inappropriate pressure", and that "the financial figures were confirmed as appropriate", the insurer said later.